Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Panic in the Bunker

The cracks are beginning to show in the facade. Two recent incidents with similar causes but widely ranging impact, the Juan Williams firing and the dis-inviting of a SF convention Guest of Honor Elizabeth Moon, illustrate this. You wouldn't think NPR would be thinking exactly like the Wiscon steering committee, but they are both afraid of the same thing--counter-revolutionary thinking. Which must be eradicated by banning and shunning and every other means at their disposal.

NPR and Wiscon are similar in that they are proud of being terribly diverse, tolerant of differing opinions, and just happen to be stuffed to the gills with liberal leftists that can't stand anyone who disagrees with them. Some of whom can be quite nice taken individually, but collectively they see no irony in banning someone for saying what they don't like in the name of free speech. Juan Williams and Elizabeth Moon are similar, in that they are members of that group, or at least were. Bear in mind, NPR hired Juan Williams and kept him on for years. Elizabeth Moon was well-known to the com-con before being invited as a Guest of Honor. If you look at their respective spoken and written output, they are definitely more on the liberal than the conservative side. (Ms. Moon conceals it well in her fiction writing; I am referring to her blog posts and convention panel talks.) I don't think it is coincidence that this is all coming out at the same time too. The Wiscon brouhaha has been bubbling for a while (which I knew about, being somewhat plugged in to the SF community) and it looks like NPR has been pursing its lips about Mr. Williams *acting* on diversity and tolerance, by speaking on FOX rather than shunning them like a good liberal should.

The reason for both ostracisms is psychological denial about the threat of extremist Muslim terrorists. Elizabeth Moon merely pointed out, in connection with the Ground Zero Mosque, that religious tolerance with Muslims appears to only go one way, and she's tired of it. She's tired of having to tolerate people who institutionalize the subjugation of women and physical abuse of women. You would think an avowedly feminist science fiction convention would be in agreement with this and support her, but no. Juan Williams mentioned that seeing people on his plane in obvious Muslim garb made him tense and nervous, and that he doesn't LIKE that reaction in himself. (NPR conveniently left out that additional information.)

Now people in religious garb get on planes all the time and nobody worries. Catholic nuns tend to stand out. Male Sikhs, ditto. You aren't going to see many Amish on planes, but they are pretty distinctive and unless you are a sheaf of wheat, violence is the LAST thing you think of when you see them. Yeah, yeah, insert boilerplate here about "not all Muslims are terrorists." But an awful lot of terrorists are Muslim. As the joke goes, whenever the media announces "Islam is a religion of peace!" the immediate thought is "What did they blow up this time?" Ever notice the media doesn't have to announce Buddhism is a religion of peace? Or reassure us about the intentions of the Dalai Lama?

So, why now? My theory is the displacement for the fear (rational) of terrorists that could not be acknowledged (because of the Muslim thing) used to be taken care of by former President Bush. The liberals hated him openly, but subconsciously knew he would protect us. Even if people said nasty things about him, or accused him of heinous war crimes, he would do the hard, dirty work to make sure our heads weren't sawed off.

Nobody thinks President Obama really wants to do the hard work to protect us. The terrorists are still there. Still Muslim. The liberals making all the fuss about Moon and Williams resent the hell out of their own kind pointing out the truth they fear more than death, and so they lash out. Even at the expense of the alleged tolerance and respect for diversity they trumpet so loudly.

Saw the movie RED yesterday, and it was just as silly and explosion-rich as I had hoped. The cast was great, and the bad guy knew his rights as a member in good standing of the Bad Guys International Brotherhood local #243. And if I'm ever kidnapped, I can only hope my kidnapper is considerate enough to pack my bag and do a little dusting and cleaning. For one thing, my house is a mess and that will keep him occupied long enough he'll forget why he was there in the first place.

- Amya Some kind of con-related hiatus, I think.-Dresden Codak-Lackadaisy-My Ninja Family-Argghhh-onauts concocted an epic casserole of excuses, culminating, I shit you not, with a cheese-lined crater. If he put as much effort into drawing the comic as he does coming up with reasons why he didn't, alien archaeologists visiting Earth millions of years from now would find an entire geologic layer of Argghhh-onauts comix.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Benoit Mandelbrot, RIP

Yes, you probably do know who he was. Even if you didn't know his name. He made math beautiful for many people -- and for many mathematicians, he made beauty mathematical. What a wonderful legacy to leave behind.

Friday, October 15, 2010

The Past is a Country Narcissists Don't Visit

They don't even have it on a *map*. Hark to the current occupant of the White House, via Fox News...

"It may be that regardless of what happens after this election, they feel more responsible," he is quoted saying in the Sunday edition of The New York Times Magazine, "either because they didn't do as well as they anticipated, and so the strategy of just saying no to everything and sitting on the sidelines and throwing bombs didn't work for them, or they did reasonably well, in which case the American people are going to be looking to them to offer serious proposals and work with me in a serious way."

Yerronner, we have two accusations made in this pleading.

"just saying no to everything and sitting on the sidelines and throwing bombs". (What? No, I'm pretty sure he means metaphorical bombs. Yes, Miss Grundy, that was a run-on sentence. No, we don't enforce grammar or good writing in this court--we'd get nothing else done. See the bailiff for a red pencil if you want to form a posse with our blessing.)

"the American people are going to be looking to them to offer serious proposals and work with me in a serious way."

These accusations are made in the context of the expected ever-lovin' ass-kicking of the Democrats in the mid-term elections. The wonderful thing about being a narcissist, see, is it doesn't matter what you said or did in the past. It was right *then*, as all your actions are right. So even though your actions NOW are in complete contradiction to previous ones, you are still right. Why? Shut up, that's why.

In response, the defense would like to enter the following data into the record:

Charge #1: That's not how we remember it. The president refused to meet with Republican leaders who wanted to discuss options. Republicans were literally locked out of Congressional meetings held by the Democratic majority. On the rare occasions when he would deign to listen to Republican suggestions, he would simply point out "I won" and ignore them. His idea of compromise is allowing Republicans to tell him how great they thought his poem bill was. And by the way, how exactly can Republicans "throw bombs" when Democrats control Congress?

Charge #2: I think the American People--you know, the ones who seem to be so angry right now--are expecting their voices to be listened to. When they said no Porkulus, they meant it. When they said no single-payer socialized medicine, they meant it. When they said they expect their Congresscritters to read the bills they vote for, they meant it. So in this case, no, I don't think they expect the new (hopefully Republican-dominated) Congress to roll over for the president. They expect a lot of FIGHTING the president. Because the Republicans tried and tried to offer serious proposals (in between rounds of Presidential golf) and the President keeps thinking "I won" is an argument that ends all debate. He needs to realize everyone in Congress "won". He's not special. And he refused to listen when he had the chance. Now the people are going to make sure he has no choice but to listen. He'll have to get serious and work in a serious way with the Republicans, or it will be obvious he's the one being the roadblock to progress.

Friday, October 08, 2010

One Brave Old Man

Physicist Hal Lewis has resigned from the American Physical Society, where he had been a member for 67 years, (via Ace, of all people...) as a consequence of their refusal to admit any credence or even discussion about the validity of Anthropogenic Global Warming. Anthony Watts likens his letter of resignation to Luther's Theses. Me, I see a similarity to Emile Zola's J'Accuse.

Also one of the last students of Oppenheimer. Yes, that Oppenheimer. Serious and solid credentials. Dr. Lewis is also from an older, more rarefied era. One where steps of renunciation were only taken when all other options had failed. According to what he claims, the APS is in violation of its own Constitution and has actively thwarted his attempts to have a real, as opposed to manufactured, discussion on the merits.

I stopped my membership in APS for much the same reason, but with much less fanfare. I am a physics microbe compared to Dr. Lewis, but on this issue we are in complete agreement. AGW is not science. Dr. Lewis and I venerate science.

Monday, October 04, 2010

Why are Mondays, anyway?

My day can only improve. A spider the size of a mouse tried to take a shower with me this morning.

Of course from *his* perspective, a nice relaxing nighttime stroll trapped him in a white valley with unclimbable sides, then there was a flood caused by a GIANT PINK MONSTER and only by clinging with all 8 limbs to a magically-appearing Garden Botanika catalog that scooped him up and launched him into a tree that hadn't been there last time he looked that he survived. Yeah, sounds like he ate one of the spotted bugs you aren't supposed to but it really happened!

(And all the spider-chilluns roll all 9 of their eyes in disbelief...)

Friday, October 01, 2010

It's the most magical time of the year ...

The IgNobel Prize Award Ceremony! Remote controlled whale snot collection, roller coasters as asthma therapy (I suppose the screaming does open air passages ...) and slime mold can do a better job of figuring out efficient railroad routes. Well, *duh*. The problem is getting slime mold to wear little hard hats. There's a YouTube of the ceremony, if you are in to that kind of thing. Or just want to feel so squeaky-normal Norman Rockwell would paint you.